
Guernsey Funds Forum 2023

Steve Backshall
Naturalist, explorer, presenter and writer
Steve Backshall is a BAFTA award-winning wildlife expert boasting an impressive TV career with popular franchises such as Deadly 60 and more recently with Sky Nature for his new series 'Whale with Steve Backshall'.
In 2022, Steve was one of the presenters for BBC One's ‘Our Changing Planet’, the launch of a ground-breaking definitive seven-year diary, documenting the fight to save our planet’s most threatened ecosystems. In 2021, ‘Shark with Steve Backshall’ saw him dive with many species of sharks, helping to debunk the myth that all sharks are dangerous.
Outside of his TV career, Steve has published 13 books, the most recent of which was co-written with his wife, the double gold Olympic medal winner Helen Glover.
Steve is also a proud ambassador for The Scouts, Movember and the Get Outside champion for Ordinance Survey. He is also a brand ambassador for the Sky Zero Environmental Campaign. In 2020 Steve was awarded the title of Honorary Lecturer at Bangor University and in 2019, Steve was awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours for services to charity and wildlife conservation.
Tanya Beckett
Broadcaster and journalist
Tanya Beckett is a banker turned broadcaster with 20 years’ experience as a business news television and radio presenter.
Tanya began her career as a researcher, before making the leap from laboratory to investment banking. She has previously worked for Citibank in London and Commerzbank in Frankfurt.
In pursuing an interest in journalism, Tanya joined NBC Europe/CNBC Europe in 1993 as a business/political reporter. She has since worked for a number of high-profile international broadcasters and has travelled extensively across Europe and Russia while reporting on the Eurozone crisis.
Opening Keynote Address

Michael Moore
Director General - British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (BVCA)
READ BIOMichael Moore
Director General - British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (BVCA)
Michael Moore is Director General of the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association.
As private capital has continued to increase its contributions to the UK economy in recent years, Michael and his colleagues in the industry have been focused on supporting the COVID-19 recovery, delivering investment across the whole of the UK, making the UK one of the best places in the world to invest and do business, and supporting the UK to achieve ‘net-zero’ carbon emissions.
Over the past 30 years, Michael has operated at senior levels in both politics and business. In his political career he was a Member of Parliament for 18 years and served in the Cabinet at the time of the Coalition Government, as Secretary of State for Scotland.
After the 2015 General Election, Michael became a Senior Adviser at PwC. Prior to entering politics, he qualified as a chartered accountant with the firm.
Panel 1 - Emerging Asset Classes - The risks and rewards
Laurence Hulse
Investment Director - Dowgate Wealth
Laurence joined Dowgate Wealth in 2022 from Gresham House where he spent seven years in investment roles, latterly as a Citywire AA-rated Investment Director working with the team to achieve two 5-Crown rated funds; Gresham House Strategic plc (now called ‘Rockwood Strategic plc’) and Gresham House UK Smaller Companies Fund. In 2021 Laurence was nominated for Investment Company Rising Star of the Year Award. Prior to joining Gresham House in 2015, he graduated from Warwick University.
Rongrong Huo
Executive Director - Ninety One
Rongrong Huo is the Executive Director at Ninety One PLC. She is also the Chair of the UK’s ESG Leadership Forum, chairs the international workstream for City of London’s Green Finance Initiative – leading on overall China engagement – and sits in the Senior Steering Group for the UK Government’s Green Finance Institute. In 2021, she was also appointed as a Board member/trustee of both the City of London Guildhall School and its Investment Committee.
She was recognised by Financial News as one of the 100 most Influential Women in Finance for three consecutive years and has also won the Chinese Business Leaders Award for Excellence in Banking. She is also a Freeman of the City of London in recognition of her contribution in Finance and cross border business collaboration.
Eric Martineau-Fortin
Founder & Managing Partner - White Star Capital
Eric has more than 20 years of investment banking and VC investment experience. Prior to founding White Star Capital, he was a co-founding member and partner of a transatlantic investment boutique firm in the media and technology space now part of the Mediobanca Group. Eric was also previously an investment banker with BOA Merrill Lynch in New York and London as well as with Abn Amro Bank in Paris, London and Amsterdam.
Rosie Wardle
Co-Founder and Partner - Synthesis Capital
Rosie is Co-Founder and Partner at Synthesis Capital, an investment manager transforming our food system through food technology. Last year, Synthesis Capital announced the launch of the largest global food technology venture capital fund, raising over $300m to support the next wave of disruptive and innovative food tech businesses and alternative protein technology platforms.
Before Synthesis, Rosie was an Investor at CPT Capital, where she helped to build a portfolio of leading alternative protein companies including Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods, Memphis Meats, Perfect Day, and Redefine Meat. Rosie has a background in food sustainability and ESG, and in 2015 she launched the FAIRR Initiative, a global investor coalition focused on ESG risks and opportunities in protein production. Since launch, FAIRR has built a network of institutional investors with combined assets of over $70 trillion, which is working with large global food companies on issues such as protein diversification.
Rosie holds a BA (Hons) and MA from the University of Oxford, and an MA from the Courtauld Institute.
Panel 2 - Fund distribution - accessing investors in a changing world
Ana Haurie
Co-founder and CEO - Respira International
Ana has over 30 years of experience in financial services and a detailed understanding of the alternative investment space across real assets and hedge funds, honed over fifteen years of leadership at Dexion Capital.
She has a track record of building business shaped by the interests of shareholders and investors, with Dexion being recognised as leaders in corporate governance in the London-listed, closed-end company structure for alternative asset classes, raising over $16 billion in funds for 300 buy-side client groups. Ana established partnerships with key clients both in the provision of white label funds and in the creation of specialist, real-asset joint ventures, including US and European agricultural interests, social housing, and renewable energy.
Ana co-founded Respira International in 2019 as an impact-driven carbon finance business. Its high-quality verified emissions reductions allow corporations and financial institutions to mitigate their environmental impact. Respira channels private capital into climate solutions, ensuring long-term relationships with trusted carbon project developers that enable its clients to use predominantly nature-based solutions to build sustainable, climate positive businesses.
Leonard Ng
Co-Head of UK/EU Financial Services Regulatory group - Sidley Austin
Leonard Ng is a member of Sidley Austin’s Executive Committee and is Co-Head of the firm’s UK/EU Financial Services Regulatory group. Based in the firm’s London office, Leonard advises a wide range of global financial institutions on complex UK/EU financial services regulatory issues. He has particular experience in advising investment firms on operating under the regulatory framework established since the last financial crisis, and more recently on Brexit, sustainable finance/ESG, and crypto asset regulation. Leonard is a past member of the board of the Managed Funds Association, the global trade association for hedge funds, and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences. Leonard has received acknowledgements from numerous industry ranking guides, including Chambers UK (2012–2023). In April 2022 Leonard was selected by Financial News as one of Financial News’ ‘Fifty Most Influential Lawyers’.
Cees Vermaas
CEO - The International Stock Exchange
Cees is the Chief Executive Officer of The International Stock Exchange (TISE), which is headquartered in Guernsey.
He has been CEO since November 2020. With a strong focus on strategy, business development and infrastructure, he strives to enhance value for the Group’s stakeholders, including its staff, members, issuers and shareholders
Cees has more than 20 years’ experience within international financial market infrastructure. He has held senior executive positions within several international exchanges, including CEO of CME Europe Ltd, CEO of Euronext Amsterdam and Head of European Cash Markets for NYSE Euronext. Prior to that, he spent a decade working in IT and programme management roles.
Guernsey Dignitary Address
William Mason
Director General - Guernsey Financial Services Commission
William Mason has been the Director General of the Guernsey Financial Services Commission since 2013. He has also served on the Executive Committee of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors, where he chaired both the Audit and Risk Committee and the Standards Assessment Working Group, establishing IAIS’s regulatory assessment programme. William has a strong interest in Supervisory Technology and Green Finance. Under his leadership, the GFSC has developed the Guernsey Green Fund – the world's first regulated green fund structure – and more recently, the Natural Capital Fund regime.